India's COVID numbers dip slightly to 368,147 new cases, 3,417 deaths in last 24 hours
New Delhi, May 3, 2021
India today recorded 3,417 deaths due to COVID-19 and 368,147 new cases of infection in the last 24 hours, both numbers being lower than yesterday's levels, as the spread of the pandemic in several states continued to be a major cause of concern.
Adding to the woes of the people were the continuing shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen and so on witnessed in several cities amidst the spiralling numbers of patients.
The Central and State governments as well as other agencies continued to take measures to address these and related issues but clearly more needed to be done on these fronts.
Aid from abroad, in the form of liquid medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, medicines and equipment, has also started to flow in and is expected to make a difference in the coming days.
More States, meanwhile, imposed and extended lockdown-like restrictions to try and contain the spread of the deadly virus.
India had registered 3,689 deaths due to COVID-19 yesterday, the highest in a single day since the pandemic began in India in late January last year.
The 368,147 new cases logged today is significantly lower than yesterday's 392,488. The highest number of new cases in a 24-hour period was reported on May 1 at 401,993.
With today's numbers, the toll so far has climbed to 218,959 while the total number of cases has climbed to 19,925,604.
This is the sixth consecutive day that the country has reported more than 3,000 deaths in a single day and the 12th straight day that it has reported more than 2,000 deaths.
It is the 12th day in a row that the country has registered more than 3 lakh new cases of infection.
Of the 368,147 new cases of infection recorded today in India, Maharashtra, by far the worst-hit state, accounted for 56,647, much lower than 63,282 reported yesterday.
The state also accounted for 669 of the 3,417 deaths reported in India today, much lower than the 802 registered yesterday.
Mumbai, the state capital and the financial hub of the country, also reported lower numbers today at 3,629 new cases and 79 deaths.
Among the other districts, there were 65 deaths in Pune, 62 in Thane, 49 in Solapur, 35 in Nashik, 34 in Ahmednagar and 30 in Nagpur.
In Delhi, the national capital, there were 20,394 new cases in the last 24 hours, much lower than the 25,219 recorded yesterday. The city also logged 407 deaths in this period as compared to the record 412 posted yesterday.
With the latest numbers put out this morning by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, the number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 rose past 16 million to 16,293,003, up 300,732 from yesterday. The recovery rate was 81.76% as compared to 81.77%.
The number of active cases rose by 63,998 in the last 24 hours to 3,413,642 -- the highest since the pandemic began in India.
The active caseload has been steadily rising after February 12 this year, when it had touched its lowest mark of 135,926 in recent months.
The world has reported a total of 152.502 million cases of COVID-19 so far while the global death toll has climbed past 3.199 million as of this morning, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which is tracking the pandemic.
India ranks second in the world in terms of the total number of infections so far, behind the United States (32.421 million) and ahead of Brazil (14.754 million).
In terms of the number of deaths, the country now ranks fourth after the US (577,045), Brazil (407,639) and Mexico (217,233).
NNN
